7th Edition Psychic Powers Part 1: Addressing Summoning

Well if this isn't a topic that makes people upset I don't know what is.

The interwebz is exploding with people claiming the sky is falling over Psychic Powers an the new Psychic Phase.  Its a bunch of Baloney.

Take a look at this Bat Rep:
http://www.frontlinegaming.org/2014/05/24/warhammer-40k-7th-ed-video-bat-rep-daemons-vs-imperials/

In this bat rep the Daemon Player summons a ton of extra units.  Yes he will out number his foes because he is using the Malefic Daemonology Psychic Discipline to summon more units.

NOTE: The Daemon Player did not win, he tied.

This is a possible thing in 7th Edition, summoning a ton of stuff.
The following list is how he did it.

Here is his list:

Note he has 6 Mastery Level 3 Psykers and one Mastery Level 4 Psyker and I beleive the Horrors are also Psykers.  That makes his Warp Charge points 28 + d6 each turn.

There are 4 Psychic Powers in Malefic Daemonology that summon Daemons: Summoning (the Primaris Power Warp Charge 3), Sacrifice (Warp Charge 1 but you take a wound when you cast it and recieve 1 Herald), Incursion (Warp Charge 3), and Possession (Warp Charge 3 and you lose the Psyker).

Note that 3 of the 4 powers are Warp Charge 3.

Unless you are playing the list above, your chances of successfully casting alot of summoned units each turn is not very high.

Here is another Bat Rep where the Chaos Player summoned units:
http://eyeofisha.blogspot.com/2014/06/defeat.html

There were a few issues with this one, the Chaos player used Chaos Sorcerors which should have rolled Perils for every double, but didn't.  Only Daemons or Psykers with the Daemon rule can cast Malefic Daemonology Psychic Powers and not take a Perils of the Warp on a roll of a double.

Also if you read the above Bat Rep, the Eldar player was ahead in points in every turn until turn 7, where he lost.


Here is the problem with going Psychic Summoning Heavy.
If you try to summon unit after unit, you will either die from Perils if you aren't a Daemon or you will only summon a few units through the course of the game because of how difficult it is to get off a Level 3 Power now or you will have to use a list like the above and continue to cast new units instead of being aggressive because all you can do is summon units and you are still not guaranteed to get them without s few heads exploding along the way!

Here is a podcast I highly reccommend you listen to where they discuss in depth the Psychic Phase:
Episode 199.5 v2: 7th Edition Breakdown Part 1
http://www.tangtwo.com/11thcompany/episodes.cfm

Psychic Summoning is not all that.

Remember you need to win the mission not just summon Daemons.

Until Next Time.....